the rear arms go continously on punto;s
just don't drive in potholes, and you know though's square speedbumps, they are a total arm killer (exerts forces that aren't mean't to be exerted on the things).
drive over them as a pair (so the whole car goes up and down, rather than wheels either side).
also if you change the rear bush's quick enough you won't damage the arm and it'll only cost £!5 an arm in parts £25 normally, £7,50 on ebay every now and then.
however a whole arm inc bush (the old style one that lasts about 10months, the new 'revised' part of 2001> is much better and is mean't to last pretty much indefanatly, get that fitted if possible) is about £60, and maybe £40 labour, EACH!!
not cheap, but if you don't let them get bad, and you use the revised bush you won't have a problem again.
the fact your dampers are leaking/totally wrecked (no oil in them = wheels ocscilating up and down at the speed of light, can cause huge accidents as th tyres rapidly overheat and can blow out spectaculary at speed, hence why your car failed MOT) shows that the car has been abused or rammed into speedbumps (most likely, especially the square ones, bring back sleeping police men:slayer: ), regulary and has blown out the shock seals.
I paid £89 for a pair of kwikfit shox's inc fitting, had a two year warrenty on them, needless to say, the car went back within 3months to have new ones fitted AGAIN!!! they were utter crap, rusted thru, seals blew out and needed new ones again, so took em back again (this was 10months by then) and they fitted proper fiat ones at their expense(made by magentti morelli, so original parts), been 6months since and they still look and drive great.
shop4parts sometimes does these shocks heavily discounted, get them if you can, they last for a good 8years I would say under normal driving.
your front brake discs are worn out. chances are only the pads have been changed in teh past, typically you get 20-30k out of a set of OEM brake pads, and 50k out of a set of discs (or 3years, whichever first, as they tend to rust up then wear down just as quick as doing more miles anyway).
if you wear them down too far, the brake cylinder get extended too far and car eject onto the road leaving you with no brakes whatso ever and corstic brake fluid everywhere. again your vehicle doesn't sound like its been cared for in a previous life
Don't worry though, these are ALL standard *wear* parts that are mean't to wear out to prevent permanent damage to the vehicle, regular replacing of parts as per service schedule will prevent any sudden expenidture at the mot test, or any letdowns with minor breakdowns and bad days
also if you do stuff early rather than late you can choose what garage you take it to, so can shop around for price and save a bit, or even do the work yourself if you are competant with a spanner set!
its very rarely done,all bits been repplaced at the correct intervals, beginning to think my mk1 punto is the ONLY one thats had everything done to it on time since day one! and never failed an MOT yet, well it failed one on count of rear number plate light didn't light well enough
)
sorry for such a long post, just trying to give you an idea of what to do.
DON'T PANIC!
